Apps

Why the Palm Pre is NOT an iPhone Competitor

I'm seeing people comparing the Pre to the iPhone. Some are even calling it an iPhone Killer. Personally, I don't think they should even be compared. The iPhone is built for media: large storage compatibilities for music and video, apps for everything imaginable, and an all around fun interface. The Palm Pre, and every other Palm smartphone, is tailored to the business user.

The Pre's Synergy technology pulls your contacts and calendars from multiple sites and your desktop Outlook so that all your contacts and appointments are in one place.

With the Universal Search you can look something up and it will first search your phone, then it will offer to search Google and several other great sites! … Read more

Review With All Features Covered, Yeah Right! Until Now

A small and basic walkthrough of the features that come with the Palm Pre: Screen: When first booting the device up I was expecting a slightly fuzzy picture since my current device is a touch pro, to my surprise I saw a crystal clear image with a sharp crisp look. The 480X320 screen is just beautiful with support of 16 million colors. My first test that I had to put the device through was how it looked while in the sun, to my surprise (even at noon) the glare from the sun was reflected nicely by the screen and it was still very readable without a lot of strain or stress on the eyes. By the time I had tinkered with it for a little bit I noticed that the greases from my hands and sweat was making a glare when the sun hit it. That was a downer, a easy fix I found for this was to use the case that came with the device as a quick clean cloth.… Read more

JumiMouse turns your iPhone into a touch pad

You've probably heard of Mobile Air Mouse, the clever app that turns your iPhone into, well, an air mouse. (It's currently on sale for $1.99, by the way.)

JumiMouse is a bit different: It turns your iPhone (or iPod Touch) into an oversize touch pad, complete with left and right mouse buttons, tap-and-drag support, and so on.

Why would you want such a thing? For starters, JumiMouse could take the place of a laptop touch pad that's worn and no longer working properly.

It could also solve the common problem of accidentally grazing the laptop touch … Read more

Apple rejects Commodore 64 emulator app

Apple rejected a fully licensed emulator of the venerable Commodore 64 (C64) based on the SDK rules that specifically prohibit interpreted or executable code. Manomio's application, also called C64 (c64iphone.com), allowed users to play classic C64 games, run applications and use Commodore BASIC.

"The rejection letter simply stated a violation of section 3.2.2 of the iPhone Developer's Agreement," said Manomio. According to developers we know, section 3.2.2 reads as follows. "An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use … Read more

Android phone running slow?

Though Android can run multiple programs and close background processes as needed, there are times where the OS' overall performance slows down. And during those times in particular it's troubling that Android doesn't let you close applications manually.

Fortunately, the Android Marketplace offers an answer. Advanced Task Manager is a paid application that enables you to view all running applications and end them on demand. For only 99 cents you can see all open applications and background processes on your phone, which can help you identify which are taking up memory. With the tap of your finger, you … Read more

Skype updates for Windows and iPhone

Updated on July 2, 2009, at 9:02 a.m. PT with more from Skype regarding push notification for the iPhone/iPod Touch app.

Skype is certainly on a roll this week. Just yesterday it converted the latest beta of its Windows Mobile phone software into a full-fledged release. On Tuesday, the VoIP company did it again for Skype 4.1 for Windows. In addition, Apple green-lighted Skype 1.1 for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which you can download now.

Skype 4.1 for Windows

Skype 4.1 beta brought back features like accessibility, birthday reminders, and the capability … Read more

iPhone Deal of the Day: Five App Store freebies

I love free stuff, and it seems like each day brings a wealth of new free goodies to the iPhone App Store. Here's a look at five notable apps that won't cost you a cent (at least for now--some are free only temporarily, so get 'em while you can).

20! Top Man Things Men Must Know If you can excuse the sexist, unwieldy title, you'll find some undeniably useful information here: how to bandage a wound, perform basic CPR, fix a flat, and so on. (Note to developer: Why not call it 20 Top Things Everyone Should … Read more

Is Google Adsense good for Android?

Last week Google announced the beta version of Adsense for mobile applications. With this new service, developers will be able to better monetize their applications and games. What's more, the revenue generated should be enough to encourage developers into spending more time on their Android projects.

In order to qualify for the beta service, a developer's application must generate 100,000 impressions per day. The developers generate revenue based on the number of people who click on an advertisement they display. The click-through rate, or CTR, is often higher on mobile ad units because they are highly targeted … Read more

Google move paves way for Firefox on Android

Google's move to let software run natively on Android devices opens the door for a version of Firefox that can run on the operating system.

At present, Android applications are written in Java and run on Google's Dalvik Java virtual machine. Last week, though, Google announced the Android Native Development Kit version 1.0 that lets software run natively on the Linux layer below, though the company sees it as a way not to run full-fledged applications as much as to run components of ordinary Android applications.

"Android applications run in the Dalvik virtual machine. The NDK … Read more

For games, no big rush to speedy iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS is already wooing game developers with its faster, more powerful platform, but don't expect a ton of games fully taking advantage of it to flood the App Store--yet.

Though 1 million iPhone 3GSs sold in one weekend, the latest Apple mobile device is essentially still a niche product, compared to the 40 million original iPhones, iPhone 3Gs, and both iPod Touch models already sold. And those won't be able to run games with the same efficiency and speed as the new iPhone 3GS.

In short, it's still too early to declare the era of iPhone 3GS games officially arrived. Some game makers are waiting, or not creating games to take advantage of the device at all. Some say it's "not wise" to play specifically to what is still a small slice of the audience combing Apple's App Store for the latest downloads. For example, Pop Cap, the company behind Peggle and Bejeweled for the iPhone, said its games are benefiting from the faster load times the 3GS offers, but it has no plans to create games that are iPhone 3GS-specific.

This wait-and-see approach may be contrary to what some expected. The iPhone 3GS was essentially an update to the iPhone 3G. The "S," we were told, stands for "speed." Indeed, there's a faster processor, a PowerVR SGX graphics chip that can handle 3D rendering, and support for OpenGL ES 2.0, a standard use for creating 2D and 3D graphics. It also has a magnetometer and a video camera, unlike other Apple mobile devices.